Choosing to recycle the scrap metal laying around your property is always an excellent idea. For starters, you are being proactive about limiting the amount of metallic waste that makes its way into landfills, which is great for the planet. Secondly, recycling metal reduces the reliance on newly manufacture supplies, and this helps with conserving the environment. Not to mention the added benefit of making some money from metal that you do not need or use! However, when it comes to making cash from your scrap metal recycling efforts, you need to ensure that you are taking the right type of scrap to the buyer at the right time. So if you have been thinking that this form of recycling simply entails collecting and transporting metals to your local scrap metal buyer, consider the following measures to take beforehand.
Proper separation and preparation
A mentioned above, simply collecting and transporting the metals on your property will not do if you are intent on making some money from scrap metal recycling. Thus, the first measure that you need to take before seeing a scrap metal buyer is separating the different types of metallic supplies and then properly preparing them for recycling. Separation is key because the different types of metals are not recycled together. Thus, if you have some steel mixed with copper and aluminium, you may not end up making any money from your recycling efforts since the recycler will have to separate and subsequently strip these materials, and this is a time-consuming process. Once you have separated the metals, you should then eliminate any supplies that are not metallic. Protective casings made from rubber and any other supplies should be extracted from the metal before you go to a scrap metal buyer.
Establish the different grades and current market price
The second measure to take before taking your metal to a scrap buyer is determining the different grades of metal you have in your scrap and their current market price. Copper, for example, is one of the most sought-after types of scrap metal since its inherent versatility makes it incredibly valuable. However, copper comes in various grades, with the most expensive grade being the brightest type. On the other hand, stainless steel is also a valuable metal, but the various grades and value are determined by the amount of nickel in the alloy. Thus, you need to establish the grades of the different types of scrap metal you have.
The second measure to take is researching the current market prices. Like any other product, the market prices will vary from one week to another. While you will need to be patient, knowing the prices gives you an idea of when it will be most profitable for you to sell to the scrap metal buyer.